ADSL for gamers

(IDG) -- I'm spoiled. I admit it. Working and playing on a
T1 line will do that to you. No matter how much
you want to sit at home and experience what the
rest of the world calls a fast modem connection,
you can't hack it. Would you trade in Neve
Campbell for Joan Collins? I don't think so. So
after two years of suffering, I gave in and decided
to get a fast connection for the domicile.

But which to get? T1? No way. I'd rather spend
those thousands of dollars on a new car or a
down payment on a house. ISDN? Possible, but
those per-minute charges suck and installation
costs are still high. Cable modem? Now we're
talking, but TCI.net ain't coming to my hood for at
least another eight months. That left one other
option-one that, surprisingly, had just become
available in my metropolis-asymmetric digital
subscriber lines (ADSL).

ADSL is a high-speed Internet connection in
which you have two specialized modems on
either side of a copper telephone line. Unlike
normal modems, this is a true digital line-meaning
there's no conversion from digital to analog signal
and back. The asymmetric connection is pretty
fast- "asymmetric" means you can have different
speeds for uploads and downloads, although
some ISPs like Concentric offer symmetric lines
that provide an average speed for uploads and
downloads.

Theoretically, an
ADSL line can
download up to
8MBs per second,
and upload
800Kbps per
second, but actual
ADSL service limits
are much less. In
California, Pacific
Bell offers three
connection plans that are typical of ADSL service:
Entry Level (128Kbps upload and 384Kbps
download), Really Fast (384Kbps in both
directions), and Hurt Me (384Kbps upload and
1.5MBps download). One more neat feature:
ADSL can run on one phone line, handling voice
calls simultaneously with the digital connection,
with no interference or loss of speed during a call.
You don't have to rewire or add another line for
ADSL.

What you need for speed

Everything from a 486 on up is all the computer
you'll need. If you've got at least Windows 95 and
16MB of RAM, you've got the basics. What the
phone company will install for ADSL is a
specialized modem, an Ethernet card, and a new
phone jack that can handle the ADSL signal.
Although you can easily get the ethernet card on
your own, buying an ADSL modem at CompUSA
isn't a likely option, nor is any inside wiring that
may need to be done. So for these, you're pretty
much at the mercy of your ADSL provider and the
requirements of their technology.

Where's the catch?

As far as service fees are concerned, I didn't
experience any hidden demons in opting for an
ADSL connection. The biggest challenge is
understanding that you're dealing with a brand
new animal, and that no one is quite sure what
they're doing. In California, you have to deal with
Pac Bell-it's their phone lines, after all. Even if
you obtain your ADSL service through Concentric
or another Internet provider, they still have to play
ball with the local telco. That means your telco
costs are hidden within your monthly fees,
whether you realize it or not. Here's a breakdown
of some of the ADSL connection options that
were available to me:

There's always a catch, and with ADSL it shows
up in installation and hardware fees. $125 is
about average for installation, and $400 and up is
common to cover the cost of the ADSL modem
and Ethernet card required. But if you check
around and ask questions, there are deals you
can cut to lower these fees. With Pacific Bell, if
you agree to use PacBell Internet as your ADSL
Internet service provider, you can delete half your
hardware bill. Slip.net takes another approach,
zapping the installation fee if you sign up for a
year. You can also save some cash if you provide
and install your own ethernet card. Here's the
lowdown:

Reviewing the competitors, Pac Bell looked to be
the most aggressive player in the price wars. I did
learn of a test program that AOL is running that
offers really cheap rates, but those rates aren't
posted, and AOL requires you to apply for
consideration-with no guarantees you'll be
accepted.

That left me with Pac Bell. Their rates were lower,
and the installation fee could be spread out over
four months on my telephone bill. Since you can't
get ADSL service from the Baby Bell without
taking Pac Bell Internet, I signed up for a year to
cut down on the hardware bill. Since I placed my
service order within days of ADSL service
becoming available in San Francisco, I was able
to get an installation date within two weeks. Once
the news got out, that lead time grew to a month.

On the appointed day, I was visited by a Pac Bell
representative and a gentleman from Prime
Services Group, the contractor that does
installations for Pac Bell. Much like putting in a
new phone line, these guys checked all the
relevant junction boxes and then moved inside the
house to the game computer lair. The added an
ADSL phone jack, checked my PC to make sure
the Ethernet card was correctly installed, and
then plugged an external Alcatel 1000 ADSL
modem into the line and the computer. The proper
TCP/IP addresses were entered, the system
rebooted, and presto! I had ADSL. Total
installation time: about one hour.

Life with ADSL

Considering that I
was one of the first
kids in the
neighborhood to get
ADSL, it's been
fairly trouble-free.
That's a good thing,
since for now I'm
pretty much on my
own where
customer service is
concerned. This will
probably change
before long, but
currently if you call up Pac Bell Internet, they've
got no clue how to answer an ADSL tech support
question. The system status does have an
accurate and up-to-date ADSL area, but the
phone number listed is the same tech support
number manned by the same sympathetic yet
clueless folks mentioned above.

ADSL is an always-on, static-IP connection, and
most of the time it is always on. However, there is
some line weirdness that no one I can contacted
can explain. On the Alcatel modem, there's a
sync diode that turns red when the connection is
lost. It doesn't happen very often, but every once
in a while when you get a disconnect icon in a
Quake II deathmatch and look at the modem, that
red light is flashing. For some reason, Saturdays
around 2 p.m. tend to be a bad time. Most of the
outages have been less than 5 minutes in
duration, but one took as long as 20 minutes to
resolve itself.

Then there are times when I suspect there is
some computer-induced TCP/IP strange stuff that
causes the modem to hang. All the status diodes
on the Alcatel are green, but no data is pumping
through to the computer. Switching the modem off
and on sends the Alcatel into its connection
phase, and when the red light does its "I'm almost
done with this junk and I'm about to turn green"
flashing cycle, I try loading a new Web page.
Usually everything is fine with the connection after
this process.

The good stuff

Okay, the important stuff you've been waiting
for-ping times. Where home connections are
concerned, ADSL is the promised land if you
can't get a cable modem. Check out the
accompanying graph; the Quake II pings are
exceptional.

Quake II Average Pings

Connection

Local Server

Long-Distance Server

Office T1

0-20

20-50

Cable modem

20-30

30-70

ADSL

25-40

40-100

ISDN

70-100

100-200

56k modem

120-300

200-Infinity

As for downloads, ADSL performs as
billed-steady all the way. While ADSL won't
deliver the triple-digit download speeds of a T1 or
cable modem, since I've had my ADSL line I
always get close to 40k per second.

End game

As a reasonably priced alternative to cable
modems, entry-level ADSL service can be a great
alternative. True, @Home service is
approximately $50 per month, which includes
Internet access. And the installation fees, at
between $99 and $175, are less than those for
ADSL service. But if you've been hung out to dry
by the cable provider in your city, then ADSL is
your best option. Given free-market forces and an
expanding installed base, ADSL service costs
should come down in the next year as the telcos
start competing in earnest with cable providers.
That should make faster ADSL connection
speeds more affordable in the future.

For now, I'll happily pay that extra money for low
pings in the comfort of my own home.